GDPR and Whois

Historical I have used the wjois facility quite extensively. Now because of GDPR its value is reduced to zero as everything relating to the domain name show empty fields. I alwas though that if you had a top level domain you had to make your details known. Is this an unintended consequence of GDPR?

Re: GDPR and Whois

On the fence on this. In an honest world, there's no need to hide the registrant's name. In the real world, people use this information to 'go after' the registrant either online, or literally in some cases.

Consider the political world, where people with a point of view get targeted by opponents' online muscle-men. Or consider fake news / propaganda sites where one person can create multiple sites, which reinforce one another on a political point of view, making it appear as broad support or opposition. In reality, little will change in this sense. Political, net-savvy people get a domain management company to avoid going public.

I'd make an exception to political / religious / sport sites, in that the registrant has to publish their name, address, and where they plan to be at the weekend. Get the ideological trolls off the web.

(or at the very least, let people join the dots on who is making these sites, and who is funding them)

Re: GDPR and Whois

Generally those up to no good on the internet go to excettional lengths to hide their indentity. I personally have placed on my web site a considerable number of historical pictures where some have been used on other sites without acknowlegenent of source or for that matter pernission. WHOIS has been a source of information to find out a contact email address to obtain redress or if nearby, go knocking on their door.

Likewise if an email purpots to come from amazon and whois shows the registrar as having a GMAIL address then clearly the incoming email is fake. A bad day when whois is no longer a useful tool.